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I would buy "Made in the USA" if it was good quality. I hate being almost forced to buy cheap quality. Good made in USA cookware would work for me. I loved the great quality Japanese stereo gear of the 1970s and early 80's, but it was expensive even back then. Good ham radio gear isn't available in the USA just as TV's and so many electronic items aren't. Do they still make the Simpson 260 multimeter in the USA? I heard Tektronix has just about gone out of business making O'scopes. When I got out of school in 1985 (electronics tech), they were the top of the line. I remember when Cincinnati Millicron made the best lathes and punch presses in the world. Now they are gone.

Yes I would buy made in the USA if it was good quality. It would have to be better than cheap Chinese garbage even if it cost more. I wouldn't buy "Made in the USA" just because it was made in the USA. It would have to be significantly better than Chinese garbage. But I've been told I'm not your typical American. Real estate agents have told me clients don't care if a house has good plywood sub flooring or if it is press board. They say clients don't care if the 2 X 4's are finger joint 2 X 4's or regular 2 X 4's. They just want to know what their square footage will be and what the cost is. Most people are your big box stores don't care about the quality of stereo gear or how good of a picture a TV has. They just want to know how cheap they can get a 40" flat screen, and the quality of the picture is secondary. How many people are like me? I don't know. How many people are just bottom-line zombie consumers? Well a lot, but not all.

I worked on U.S. merchant tankers for 10 years. Although I never worked on a containership, I believe rates are so much per container. Weight isn't much of a factor to ships because ships can carry huge weights very efficiently. I could be wrong, but I think this is the case.

We answered this one here a while back. I think it was a bit under $1000 for a container from China to the west coast and $1200 to the east.

What made America great? People could do what ever they wanted with their money in order to make a profit. Those same people have the ability to take their money overseas to make as much profit as they can. Why is it cheaper their than here to produce goods? Inflation. Our economies (the West) has had a lot of growth to get them to the mature state they are, China and the like are farther down the development curve.

With prosperity the value of real-estate and goods rise as well as wages. There is no way the average Chinese could afford a rent of $1000 month, here it is not unusual. So our workers have to make more than the Chinese. But the store owner also pays more in rent, has to charge more to pay his employees so they can cover their costs, basically we have a greater cost structure built into our society. It was not an issue when things were made here and we did not have much trade with those low cost societies. Once companies were free to take their capital overseas it was inevitable that the jobs, and the revenue the government received from those jobs went with them.

Hard to compete when you live in a $1000 month neighborhood as compared to a $100 month neighborhood. Regulations, China is fast catching up with us, as an example coal fired power plant emissions.

Chinas new state-of-the-art national air pollution standards for thermal power plants went into effect January 1, 2012, replacing standards that had been in effect since 2003.1 Not only are these standards much more stringent than the previous standards, but they bring Chinese power plant regulation generally in line with developed world standards in important respects. This is true for both new and existing power plants. The new Chinese law gives existing power plants a 2½ year grace period to meet the new standards, but then all existing plants will be subject to the new standard. Older plants will also see a tightened standard (and sometimes stricter than the US or the EU for existing plants.

Now if China were to float their currency and let the markets decide on the worth there would be less difference between the cost of goods. The big difference would be how much we are willing to work for. If a Chinese employee works all year and covers his expenses and has enough left over to buy a bicycle, then our standard of living will have to drop down enough so that his bicycle and the shipping it costs to transport goods equals our costs.

Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference. Mark Twain

You know I am not the sharpest tool in the shed, however this crap just seems common sense to me. Lets pretend I was the great leader not Obama, I would first give a tax incentive to companies that a brought back mfg. here, I would then levy a small tax or tariff on imported good (small) I would then offer incentives to increase production power here that is if it task 120 chinese to produce a 100 shirts per day, I would encourage investment in machinery that could product 1000 shirts a day with 30 people. Yes we lose a few jobs but seems to be a good balance to bring mfg. back. I then would develop a educational program to educate the public on buying American. Somewhere in the mix you have to address Americans and their expectations . I know for a fact I have been bashing unions on this site for the past 2 weeks. You can't bring mfg. back to America without getting control of unions and the power they have been allowed to mask. Maybe unions in them self still have a purpose in America. I don't really know. It's the blind greed like in the Hostess case that give unions a bad name . Governor Gray Davis when he was Governor of california signed and passed laws in California that allowed unions unpresaded power to give themselves some of the highest pensions in history. . In many cases many retired workers received there total pay at early retirement plus lump sums totaling thousands and full med benefits, and are still allowed to go back to work in the same district at a differs capacity and amass even higher pensions and pay. In california you have some retired police and firemen retiring at 55 then being rehired as inspectors and are bringing down up to $500,000 per year plus bens, Some cities have what is equal to 3 payrolls just to offer a police force . Thats why you see cities going bankrupt. Yes if you like Unions, Union greed needs to be rained in if you want your unions to survive. From my prospective I thought Romney was the right guy for America at the right time. Sure he did not meet the expectations of everyone, but he was conservative but not to the point he would not work with dems and libs to get it done. He understands the common sense things I just spoke about . He would of done a great job righting the ship, and in 4 years volt his ass out if he did not do the job as advertised . Instead we get more of the same just makes me sick . I don't care if anyone agrees with me just venting anyway , good therapy

I heard Tektronix has just about gone out of business making O'scopes. When I got out of school in 1985 (electronics tech), they were the top of the line.

Well, Tektronix (and Fluke) were purchased by Danaher ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danaher_Corporation ) so their quality will likely be declining.... Having worked for a company that was purchased by Danaher, I can tell you that they destroy organizations, but make lots of money. I was in the engineering department of the company when Danaher bought us and they got rid of over 50% of the department. The whole company went from over 500 employees to under 200 employees and I was eventually let go too. They strip these companies of their character, implement their "special" business system methods, ship production overseas and do everything they can to totally maximize profits at the expense of the company's health. They get their profit, but at a high cost in my opinion.